This is the blog of Dave Green, art photographer based in Bideford, Devon. All of my new work, thoughts, ideas, workshops, travels etc appears here first.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Best of the Year 2013

One of the things I like best about a New Year is catching up on all of the things I missed in the previous year. I check in with NPR's 'All Songs Considered' and my head is usually filled with all of the critically acclaimed albums that passed me by. I keep an eye on the broadsheets for their pictures of the year and also keep up with technological advances.

The greatest change in my own photography last year was the use of my iPhone to initially 'sketch' a photo out before making the real thing; and later to use it in the making of new images in a way I cannot work with my DSLR.The photographic app I've used the most to progress my own work is AutoStitch (£1.50 Apple and Android). I started off using it to take, stitch and crop pictures to aid my 'seeing' of a space photographically; to give me an idea of how that place might look photographed. I then started using the ProCamera app (£2.99 Apple and Android) to take the photos, AutoStitch to Stitch in HQ and Photoshop Touch (£6.99 Apple and Android) to enhance and crop. So nothing that I couldn't do with my DSLR so far! But then I had a revelation - I found I was able to continually add and take away frames from my stitched image until I had achieved what I had in my 'mind's eye'. I was working on a set of images for an exhibition in Manteo, North Carolina, titled 'Café Culture'. These were to be photographs of the interiors of local cafés made entirely on my iPhone. Making the image above, of the Café Du Parc at the Burton Art Gallery, I was able to sit at a table shooting and stitching the scene, shooting more frames, deleting ones that didn't work so well, and doing this over and over until I was satisfied with the result. This was closer to the way an artist using paint would work and it was very satisfying to be able to complete the whole image from life.

SmartPhone Photography - £25A practical workshop to learn how to use your Smartphone's camera
to take professional looking photographs and enhance those images on the
go. Suitable for anyone with a SmartPhone. You will need to install a few cheap photo apps in advance which I'll advise on when booking!
Thursday 20th February in Barnstaple (10am - 12.30pm) Click to reserve a place

About Me

My current work is based around caves and rock formations at the edge of the land. Cave is a loose term as some of the places I’ve photographed are very shallow; others could be described as tunnels with openings at both ends. Some are natural and result from the massive erosion inflicted on the north Devon and Cornish coastline and others were originally mine entrances dug deep into the cliffs. Some sit proud of high water and are only attacked by the highest tides now and others are only accessible at the lowest tides and disappear completely soon after the tide has turned.
A cave’s wet walls and barnacled ceiling warns of the huge tidal difference of up to ten metres in the Bristol Channel. Spending time in these sublime dynamic spaces, documenting the interiors of these inverted sculptures, I’m continually reminded of the awesome power of the sea and treat it with great reverence.
My work here has been inspired by the rare dynamic landscape locked between the high and low tides. This landscape is seen through the eyes of a boy, and transformed by the hand of an Artist.